February 10, 2006

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Publication Date: Friday, February 10, 2006

Council OKs Valley Avenue name change for part of Junipero

The City Council Tuesday authorized a name change for Junipero Street to Valley Avenue west of Sunol Boulevard as part of a $5.3 million project to extend Valley to the south side location. Junipero east of Sunol is not affected by the name change.

When completed, Valley will run under the Union Pacific tracks near Hearst Elementary School and on to Sunol Boulevard, allowing traffic to move through corporate and retail centers and many residential areas to where it now ends at Stanley Boulevard and Bernal Avenue, near McDonald's. It will be the longest continuous stretch of roadway in Pleasanton that bears the same name.

The Valley Avenue railroad underpass and extension is one of three major public works projects planned or underway in Pleasanton to improve traffic flow and traffic safety.

Work will also start shortly on construction of a new two-lane bridge across the Arroyo De La Laguna between I-680 and Foothill Road. It will be built next to the old, narrow steel truss bridge that now handles two-way traffic.

At the insistence of nearby homeowners' organizations, the bridge was designed as a "look-alike" to match the 65-year-old steel structure. But estimated costs for the look-alike soared along with price increases for both steel and concrete, and the plan was scuttled.

The council authorized, however, spending additional funds on specially-designed guard rails "that will look old," said Phil Grubstick, assistant Public Works Director.

"The sides of the bridge, or the guard rails, are being designed to pretty much match the railings on the old Division Street Bridge that crosses the arroyo near Del Valle Parkway," he said.

Although the new bridge will have two lanes, only one will be for eastbound through traffic. The left lane will become a turning lane for traffic heading toward Windsor Estates.

Grubstick said he does not have a cost estimate for the concrete bridge, but it should cost less than the $2 million budgeted for the more pricey bridge and far less than more recent estimates that factored in the higher costs of construction materials.

The $5,256,000 Valley Avenue extension will be financed by a developer investment group consisting of Greenbriar Homes, KB Home and South Bay Development. The Bernal Avenue Bridge will be paid for by the developers of Laguna Oaks, Windsor Estates and Greenbriar Homes.

A second Bernal Avenue bridge is also planned over the Arroyo del Valle near the new Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department headquarters at Nevada Street and Bernal.

This is planned as a two-lane bridge to widen Bernal to four lanes from Vineyard Avenue to Stanley Boulevard.

Construction on that bridge has been delayed by the discovery by an environmental permitting agency of signs that the ground below could be red-legged frog habitat, where the bridge footings are to be poured. Grubstick said the city has hired an environmental consultant to work with the state and regional permitting agencies on finding suitable replacement land where the habitat can be moved.

Construction is now tentatively planned for April 2007.

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